My mainstream Republican activist friend admits to DESPISING Bush*

[enough]

This is Pennsylvania, upscale suburbia, Republican country.

She and her husband are both longtime serious republican activists and donors. They are people who care about the community and devote a lot of time to it. Not rabid, but VERY committed to the party for the past twenty years or more.

Today for the first time she just LET IT ALL HANG OUT. She hates Bushco with a passion that is different from ours, but just as strong. She hates him because to her he represents the destruction of everything she believes in in the republican party. It's across the board, not just one issue: Iraq, the economy, the environment, on and on. She is absolutely disgusted.

This is very big news to me. I knew she had her doubts about some of his "policies," but she has never expressed this flat-out emotion before. Needless to say, they voted for Bush in 2000 and will not be doing that again.

[Ganja Ninja]

1. If she feels that way ask her what 4 more years will do for the GOP.

Not that I care for the F'ing GOP anyway.

[pelagius]

4. Dissatisfied Republicans...

...are in my family, too. My in-laws are rock-ribbed Republicans of the old school (small government, fiscal responsiblity, etc.) and they are appalled at BushCo. As my father-in-law says, "It's a simple issue of competence." They also find the evangelical/fundie wing of the party very distasteful. Though they are devout Methodists, they just as strongly believe in separation of church and state.

[serryjw]

7. Your in laws are the thugs I can live with.....

THEY ARE they republican party. We may not agree with fiscal policies but they make sense. THIS party is just plain nuts.The RW and Neocons have hijacked the Party. They still have respect for the Constitution and want to keep the separtion of Church & State.

[Raster]

2. She's right. I too have friends that are very republican. They at....

...first rationalized $hrubco because it was giving power back to the g.o.p. and they were saying all the right things. Now they're finding that the g.o.p. they know and believe in is rapidly disappearing from view. Entire sections of the official party platform seem to be on sale to the highest bidder. Instead of smaller government, they're seeing an increase in the national government unlike anything brought on by a Dem. Instead of individual and states rights, they're seeing an erosion of both. In short, everything they truly believe in is being turned on its head, and they are sadly coming to the realization that their grand ol' party has turned into something neither republican nor American.

And then of course are the republicans that don't like what they see and have buried their heads even further in the sand.

[MsTryska]

3. Good For Her.

I admire people who stand up for their ideals, not just blindly follow.

My tactic lately has been to show all the ways bush is neither a conservative, not a republican, and hammer home all those repubs that won't be voting for bush this year. (even if you don't get a kerry vote out of it, you can at least take a bush vote away)

[Julien Sorel]

5. ;-)

I've been suspecting for a while now that Bush has the potential to destroy the Republican Party. He has no real ideas, he's ruined the budget, so that future administrations can blame him for any unpopular economic decisions, he's weak and a poor manager, and then there is Iraq. Even if Kerry doesn't beat him and Bush clings to office, he will be mired in Iraq with no real way out. After running a campaign based on being steadfast and resolute, if he withdraws, he's fucked, and the Republicans with him, but with every casualty, and every talk of troop callups and the draft, he's fucked even more. If Iraq drags on into the midtterms in 2006, the Republicans will be forced to either distance themselves from Bush, which is like political civil war, or get spanked by Democrats demanding something be done, and running against "George Bush Iraq War Republicans."

Iraq is a tragedy, but it has a silver lining.

[notadmblnd]

6. I think a lot of repubs won't be voting for the little chimp this time

I've talked to a lot of people and I get the impression that they are afraid to be vocal in their opinion of bush, they don't want to talk about it. I get the impression they they feel they will be ostracized by their peer groups. I think it says a lot about the fear the media and this administration has worked so hard to spread.

[Mike L]

8. Are they voting for Kerry, voting Libertarian, or holding their nose and

voting for the Chimp?

[enough]

10. They will vote KERRY, but

they are being quiet about it in their social circles. Republican retribution can be very harsh, and nobody knows that better than an active republican.

[el_gato]

9. Are they helping bush get re-elected?

You say they are active in the party, are they currently?

[enough]

12. My impression is that they are still working hard on local and state races

but avoiding the national. This is hard for them, and she is personally very unhappy about the whole situation.

[marlakay]

11. I watched debate with 3 republicans at pizza place in Reno

and all of them hated Bush but weren't sure about Kerry. I talked to them during the debate off and on and they saw how well Kerry did. They are either going to stay home or vote for Kerry. I could tell they were ashamed of their candidate.

[treading_water]

13. My husband, a repub, hates * too.

My husband, a registered repub in the fiscal conservative sense, also hates * with a passion that is almost holy. He voted Gore in 2000 and will be voting Kerry in November.

It's pretty interesting when he gets going on a rant about how his party has been hijacked by "extremists".

A wonder if a repub party schism is about to take place - I don't know how the extreme fundies can co-exist with the more moderate rights for much longer.

[girl gone mad]

14. I've got a Republican friend who has gone from..

worshipping the ground Bush walks on to telling me, "I know he isn't perfect, but he's still my guy" a few months ago, to yesterday telling me, "He's not that great, is he?"